With the emergence of 3G mobile telephony, new packet-based communication technologies using IP (Internet Protocol) have been developed to support communication between users with multimedia services. A multitude of different mobile and fixed terminals capable of multimedia communication are also emerging on the market. New services involving communication of various types of media are also constantly being developed for terminal users to increase the field of usage for their communication terminals. In this description, the term “user services” generally represents any type of services that can be activated and consumed by means of a communication terminal.
Recently, solutions have been devised for creating and offering relevant and potentially attractive services to different service consumers according to their interests and needs in different situations. These user services can thus be adapted to the individual users depending on their user profiles and/or current situation.
A server called PGM (Presence and Group Management) has been defined by OMA (Open Mobile Alliance), which is configured to manage groups of users and adapt various user services to the characteristics of these user groups. A common group profile can be defined in the PGM server which can be aggregated from the user profiles of the individual group members. Further, WO 06/115442 discloses a mechanism where the particular needs of a user group can be met by providing relevant context information that has been adapted to particular interests and needs of the group.
Group management mechanisms can be defined and implemented for each user service when needed. For example, group management mechanisms are defined in the PGM server for the service called PoC (Push-to-talk over Cellular). These mechanisms generally specify a common message language and communication protocol between applications and servers, which are used as the service is consumed by the users in the group.
A process called “discovery” can be conducted when a user group is formed, involving the exchange of identities, terminal capabilities and available services within the group members, to enable communication between the users. The discovery process can also be conducted within a temporarily formed ad-hoc network of users, e.g. using Bluetooth communication. Specific service discovery protocols have been standardised for finding users and their services in the discovery process. However, the service discovery protocols are either network-specific or dependent on the lookup of a directory service.
The currently available group service solutions are thus always controlled by a central server or the like, e.g. the PGM server, which resides in an operator-controlled access or service network such as an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) network. However, the users themselves have typically very limited options to create and influence their user services since the network operator controls the group services centrally. Further, creating and managing a group with members having network subscriptions with different operators is somewhat complicated and results in additional problems and constraints, as agreements and signalling across the networks are then required.
Another problem is that even though many types of terminals with different capabilities are available on the market, a terminal user may sometimes suffer from the limitations of his/her chosen terminal and/or current connection when desiring to consume certain user services. For example, the used terminal may have a high quality camera function but the user's subscription or current connection may only allow for a relatively low bitrate and/or accessibility for certain desirable user services. In another example, a terminal may have an excellent screen with high resolution but only mediocre sound reproduction, and so forth.